


The Desktop Debacle

by andachippedcup



Series: Domestic Belle [6]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-04
Updated: 2013-02-04
Packaged: 2017-11-28 04:03:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/670063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andachippedcup/pseuds/andachippedcup





	The Desktop Debacle

When he comes home that day, he finds her in the room they’ve turned into a library. It’s a room with shelves from floor to ceiling, each inch weighed down with heavy volumes. Encyclopedias, classics, books on art and history, tomes bearing the images of far off countries, books on customs and etiquette, hardbacks of medical terms and physiology and anatomy, books on plants and animals, volumes on cartography  and survival.

If there’s a book on it, Belle probably has it somewhere in her library. There are more books than there is shelf space for them all, so there are carts bearing more of them. She’s cross legged amidst  a dozen towers she’s compiled of books, glancing at the covers and titles of them all with a frown before moving on to the next one.

“You know dearie, you aren’t supposed to do that.” He smirks from the doorway, causing Belle to look up from her work and beam at him before her face knits into a puzzled little frown.

“Do what?” She asks as he steps forward and extends a hand to her to help her to her feet as he sweeps her into a warm embrace.

“Judge them by their covers.” He chuckles as she swats his arm gently with a wry grin. She presses a kiss to the tip of his nose and flits away, clearly too engrossed in her task to take a longer time out for his jests.

“I’m not doing that, silly. I’m looking for a book. Something that Ruby was talking about today at lunch.” At this he frowns; while he likes the wolf girl well enough, there’s no telling what kind of books she’s reading and he very much wonders if his little Belle should be taking reading recommendations from the younger woman.

“Oh? And what book would this be?” He hums a little anxiously as he steps forward to look at the books she’s discarded in her search.

“Well, that’s just it, I’m beginning to wonder if she got the title wrong because we don’t own it and the library didn’t have it either.” Belle purses her lips, her brows furrowed in the most adorable manner.

“The title love, what is it?” If his little lamb wants something, he’ll search the ends of the earth until he finds it for her, be it a book or anything else.

Belle sighs, clearly put out that a book has been discovered that is not in the possession of the local library or her own personal collection.

“It’s called ‘Facebook’; the way Ruby talked about it, it’s very interesting. It’s an account of modern events. It analyzes social groups in today’s society and such. I thought it would be good to read. Help me be more socially aware.” She shrugs and sighs, her lower lip jutting out in that little pout she often does without realizing it. The one that drives him to ridiculous ends to make her happy.

However, this time it’s only serving to make him laugh harder as he tries to stifle the laughter he’s choking on. But he can’t help it. Leave it to his sweet, darling little Belle to think that a social media  _internet website_  was actually a book analyzing modern society.

By now his choked guffawing has reached her and she’s giving him the most adorable little look, somewhere between incredulous and affronted.

“What’s so funny? Do you know where I can get the book?  _Rum, tell me!_ ” She demands. Belle even goes so far as to stomp one of her dainty little feet and  _seven hells_  it’s hard to take her seriously. She’s so small and precious and blessedly innocent and naïve.

When at last his laughter has subsided, he explains that what she’s been searching for is no educational paperback or light reading, but rather a website. She’s instantly intrigued and upon calling Ruby to discuss her revelations, Belle only becomes more interested. The news that Ruby, Ashley, Mary Margaret, and even Emma all have this ‘Facebook’ makes her want to participate all the more.

He’s not particularly a fan of her getting a ‘profile’, but not for the reasons most will think. He doesn’t want to control her or keep the outside world at bay. Far from it.

Belle’s hopeless with technology – her bouts with the washing machine and the microwave have proven that. The idea of teaching her how to master the basics of computer skills is a daunting task, even for the likes of Rumplestiltskin.

First he has to teach her how to turn it on. Simple enough.

“This is the power button dearie. You’ll want to press that just the once to turn it on. As long as you don’t unplug any of these wires back here, it should work just fine.” He explains as he shows her the ropes of the old PC desktop he’s got hooked up in his office area. Laptops be damned; he’s a desktop man through and through.

This is simple enough and Belle is bright, but this isn’t the step that worries him. As the screen loads and the password screen pops up, he sighs.

Time to teach her to type.  _This_  is what will be difficult.

“There now, here’s the password screen. You use the mouse-” he points to the device in question, but before he can go any farther, Belle stops him.

“ _That’s_  ‘the mouse’?”

“Yes dearie, this is the mouse.”

“I was expecting….” She trails off and goes quiet, blushing fiercely.

“A rodent?” He smirks and presses a kiss to the top of her head. Bless her, she’s so cute when she’s clueless. “It’s what lets you move the little cursor there on the screen.” He explains, directing her attention to the white little arrow that darts across the screen at his bidding.

Their computer lesson is put on hold as Belle spends the next three and a half minutes moving the mouse and watching in delight as the cursor mimics the motions. Apparently this is very amusing stuff for a girl who thinks no one has ever done her bidding like a puppet on strings. Little does she know that he has always been her willing puppet and she, his string master.

“Alright, alright. What’s next Rum?” She asks, bright eyed and innocent as always. He smiles and points to the line eagerly awaiting a password to log them in.

“This is where you have to type the password to let you log on.” He explains but already she’s questioning him.

“Wait, the computer has a password? Rum, that seems a little excessive, I doubt anyone will try and break into it…” She trails, wearing her chastising, ‘I’ll get my way’ face, but he just grunts and shakes his head.

“Not my idea, love. This is how all the computers come. But if you have a problem with that, you’re free to take it up with Microsoft.”

“What-soft?” She asks, confusion swirling in those lovely blue eyes. He just smiles and shakes his head.

“Never you mind, little lamb. Now, use the mouse and you left click in the password line. Then, you type your password.” He explains and motions to the keys. “Make sure the button that says ‘Caps Lock’ is off. If the button is lit up, it’s on, so you just hit the button to turn it off. Understand?” He has to go slow, because it’s only going to get more complicated from here, but she gives a deft little nod.

“Light on, the button is on. Hit the button, the light goes off, the button is off.” She states, her brows raised as if to say that this is small potatoes for a brilliant lass like her.

“Very good. Now. The password for our computer is-….” He pauses and glances around, as if to make sure no one is around to overhear. “..-Teacup – Capital T.” He explains, to which she giggles.

“Teacup?  _That’s_  your password? The mighty Rumplestiltskin, the man who used to be The Dark One, and your password is _teacup_?” She’s giggling all the harder now as he stands, arms crossed behind her with an entirely un-amused look on his face.

“Yes, yes laugh it up, dearie. Now let’s see you type it.” He smirks knowingly as he watches her peck at the keys with one finger, awkward and haltingly slow. It isn’t until he has her hit enter and the screen bounces back incorrect password that she frowns and tries again, getting it wrong until he gently reminds her about the capital ‘T’ and shows her how to hit the shift button to summon the desired letter. 

Apparently, she doesn’t find typing to her liking.

“I don’t like typing. The letters aren’t in any order at all. ‘A’ and ‘S” are nowhere near each other in the alphabet, Rum. Who in the world put them next to each other on the keyboard? It’s complete chaos.” Belle grumbles and gently pushes the keyboard away from her with a shake of her head. “Madness…” She continues to mutter as she folds her arms in front of her and watches the computer home screen load.

——-

The next hour is spent explaining and creating an email address for Belle (“It’s like writing a letter, only you don’t need to wait for a messenger or a raven to deliver it”). Then he must explain the internet, though by the end of his explanation Belle still seems to have zero grasp of the concept. By the time they finally get her a facebook and he helps her create a profile, she’s growing bored.

There’s a brief interlude of giggling though when he helps her decide on passwords and she opts for “Rumplebuttstiltskin”, an inside joke dating back to his disastrous attempt at wearing sweatpants. He grumbles and feels his cheeks grow hot as she chuckles at the memory, but he does as she bids and types in her password, muttering feigned words of anger that she bats away with a smile.

She finds facebook itself rather humdrum though and she’s too modest to enjoy having to pick out a picture of herself for her profile. So, naturally he sets out to do it for her and even offers to use the camera to take a few choice shots now, but she bats his hand away when he plays with the fabric at the shoulder of her shirt, too focused on her computer lesson to take a respite, even if he’s feeling plenty frisky.

She’s baffled by the notion of requesting friends and rather put out at the fact that her friends list is empty.

“I don’t understand; why do I have to request to be friends with them when we’re already friends? It just seems silly.” Belle sniffs as he helps her request to be friends with Ruby and Ashley, Mary Margaret and Emma. She requests David and Jefferson for good measure and she even sends one to August, though this makes him cringe and grit his teeth. Belle’s always been kind to everyone though and he wouldn’t change a hair on her head, so he lets her be.

“I really don’t understand what Ruby was fussing about. This is quite boring. I haven’t learned a thing about modern society.” Belle sighs and steps away from the computer. “And really, typing is such a hassle. I’d much rather write a letter and mail it than try and peck at these silly keys. I don’t know how you can bear to work on these keyboards and computers.” She sighs and shakes her head.

“I don’t care for them all that much either, little lamb.” He smiles reassuringly. “But they do make balancing the budget a sight easier.” He comments. And he doesn’t mean anything by it, but of course Belle picks up on this too.

“The budget? You mean the computer does math too? Oh, show me! I want to help! I want to balance the budget!” She chirps. “I was never good at math, but maybe the computer can help? Oh please Rum, show me how?” And she’s clinging to his arm with such childish hope and glee in her eyes at the prospect of being helpful…well, how can he say no?

He can’t.

Which is why forty five minutes later his excel spreadsheets are a mess and he’s fairly certain she’s deleted all of the work he’s done on his taxes in the last three months, in addition to last month’s payroll when he finally pries her away from the computer, commending her on how she’s done such a great job tabulating the store’s earnings.

(If anything, she’s cost him money, because he’ll definitely need an accountant to undo whatever she’s done to his months of hard work.) But he just smiles and pats her on the hand and leads her back to her library with a comment on how she can sort her books back into place while he makes dinner.

Belle’s far less destructive around books. It’s clear, however, that she and technology are oil and water. At this rate, he might need a new computer if she insists on keeping up with Facebook.  

But really, it’s a small price to pay.


End file.
